Jeff Walter – In fantasy baseball you need power numbers out of your first base position, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a better power hitter in baseball today than Ryan Howard. Howard has been the most consistent power hitter since his first full season in 2006. Remarkably he has had at least 45 home runs and 136 RBIs in each of his first four full seasons (say that five times fast!). Over that same time period Howard has produced a total of 198 home runs and 572 RBI. Compare that to the other top first basemen: Justin Morneau- 118/465… Prince Fielder- 158/443… and even Albert Pujols- 165/491.In fact during the 2009 season Howard became the fastest player in baseball history to reach 200 home runs. Also consider career slugging percentage. Howard- .586… Morneau- .501… Fielder- .550… Pujols- .628. Ok, so Pujols wins the slugging percentage battle, part of the reason he’ll go number one in most drafts. Lastly, when ranking your first basemen for fantasy purposes, remember that Howard is part of one of the top three offenses in baseball. Yet one more reason why Howard should be taken ahead of Morneau and Fielder.

Ryan Oleniczak – After Albert Pujols, you can’t go wrong taking Prince Fielder as your first basemen of choice for your fantasy team. Last year, Fielder was one of only three players, MVP’s Pujols and Joe Mauer the others, with an OPS over 1.000 (1.014).Fielder also finished second among first basemen in total bases with 1,008. Fielder has proven to fantasy owners that he is a mark of durability over the past three seasons as he has not played in less than 157 games during that stretch. Last season, Fielder’s numbers compared favorably, if not better than Howard’s, as he finished with 46 HR (Howard – 43), 141 RBI (Howard – 141), 103 Runs (Howard – 105), and a .299 AVG (Howard – .279). If you think Fielder’s numbers were an aberration, look to his 3 year averages of 43 HR, 120 RBI, 99 Runs, and a .288 AVG for guidance. Considering his power and average, Fielder is a step above Howard as the No. 2 fantasy option at first base this season for fantasy owners.

Jason Oleniczak – I am a huge Justin Morneau fan. He is a good citizen and a model of consistency. That being said, it is a tough to justify Morneau as a better fantasy option than Ryan Howard or Prince Fielder. In fact, I won’t try to. He is generally not. What I would say is that if you have a choice between the three of these players and your current roster has a lot of high strikeout players then you might want to go with Morneau. His three-year average for strikeouts is 87 compared to Fielder’s 131 and Howard’s brutal 193. Also, if your league has a defensive category that would weigh in Morneau’s favor as his three-year error average is 4 compared to 13 for Fielder and 15 for Howard. To sum up, unless your fantasy league has a “least time spent at the Old Country Buffet” category, you will not take Morneau over Fielder and Howard.

On deck is Second Base and Shortstop is in the hole. So stay tuned.

9. Jim Thome – Despite primarily being a DH since his trade to the Chicago White Sox after the 2005 season, Thome finds his name on this list due to being a consistent power hitter over the decade. As an everyday first basemen with the Cleveland Indians and Philadelphia Phillies, Thome averaged 45 home runs a year and set the stage for his entrance into the 500 home run club in 2007. He finished the decade  as one of the premier sluggers in the game with a .271 AVG, 368 HR, and 986 RBI.

8. Mark Teixeira – Teixeira started his career in 2003 as a highly touted prospect for the Texas Rangers. He did not disappoint as he is one of the best first basemen in the game both offensively and defensively. For his career, Teixeira has an .290 AVG, 242 HR, and 798 RBI along with 3 Gold Glove Awards. He has had at least 30 HR and 100 RBI in each season except for his rookie season in ’03. Last season with the New York Yankees, Teixeira led the AL in both HR’s and RBI’s and won his 3rd Gold Glove Award as he was an integral part of the Yankees 27th World Championship.

7. Justin Morneau – Like Teixeira, Morneau started his career in 2003 and lived up to his potential with the Minnesota Twins with much success. In the 2006 season, he established himself as a premier player by winning the AL MVP Award with a .321 AVG, 34 HR, and 130 RBI. Morneau continued his success with 3 consecutive All Star appearances to finish the decade and is a cornerstone player for the Twins franchise along with 2009 AL MVP, Joe Mauer. For his career, Morneau is a .280 hitter with 163 HR and 623 RBI’s.

6. Prince Fielder – The son of former slugger Cecil Fielder, the “portly” Prince has been known to launch quite a few of his own tape measure shots during his brief career. Prince started his career in 2005 as a late season call-up and became the full-time starter at first for the Milwaukee Brewers the following season. In 2007 at the age of 23, he became the youngest player to reach 50 HR in a season. Last season, Prince tied for the NL lead in RBI’s with 141 and also produced his best AVG at .299. For his career, he has a .284 AVG, 160 HR, and 453 RBI.

5. Ryan Howard – The man who succeeded Thome in Philadelphia finds himself 4 spots ahead of the man he replaced on this list. Howard has built an impressive resume so far in his career as he won the NL Rookie of the Year Award in 2005 with a .288 AVG, 22 HR, and 63 RBI in only 88 games that season (312 AB). He built off his rookie campaign by winning the NL MVP Award in his first full season with a .313 AVG, 58 HR, and 149 RBI. Last season, Howard became the fastest player in MLB history to hit 200 home runs in his career, which he beat by 48 games. For his career, he has a .279 AVG, 222 HR, and 640 RBI.

4. Carlos Delgado – Like most of the first basemen on this list, Delgado is most recognized by the power numbers he has put up over the decade. He has showed off his power in both leagues this decade as he hit 187 HR in the AL with the Toronto Blue Jays from 2000-2004 and 137 HR in the NL with the Florida Marlins and New York Mets from 2005-2009. He finished the decade as a consistent power threat with an average of 30 HR and 100 RBI a season. For the decade, he had a .286 AVG, 324 HR, and an impressive 1,045 RBI.

3. Jason Giambi – Giambi’s spot on this list is debatable as much of his success came as a user of steroids. In 2000 with the Oakland A’s, Giambi was awarded the AL MVP Award as he finished with a .333 AVG, 43 HR, and 137 RBI. Giambi was a 5-time All Star this decade and had 7 seasons of at least 30 HR. He also did a good job of getting on base as he finished the decade with the 3rd best OBP (.418) of all first basemen. He finished with a .275 AVG, 303 HR, and 912 RBI. Giambi currently finds his career at a crossroads as his chances of being an everyday player in the league are slim to none.

2. Todd Helton – Despite seeing his power numbers decline in recent years, Helton has been both a steady hitter and defender throughout the decade. From 2000-2004, Helton put up prolific power numbers with his best season coming in 2000 when he led the NL in AVG (.372), hits (216), doubles (59), and RBI (147). During that span, Helton made 5 consecutive All Star appearances and also won 2 of his 3 Gold Glove Awards this decade in 2001 and 2002. He finished the decade with a .331 AVG, 260 HR, and 981 RBI. Helton’s name is often overlooked with the current crop of power hitting first basemen, however, his consistency throughout his career has been quite remarkable.

1. Albert Pujols – This is a no-brainer choice for the No. 1 spot on this list as Pujols has established himself as the best hitter in the game today. Pujols started his career in 2001 with the St. Louis Cardinals, where he won the NL Rookie of the Year Award with a .329 AVG, 37 HR, and 130 RBI. Pujols would go on to win 3 NL MVP Awards this decade (’05, ’08, ’09) including being the NLCS MVP in 2004. He also has turned himself into a very solid defensive first basemen as he won a Gold Glove in the 2006 season. Pujols would finish the decade with the best AVG (.334) and most RBI (1,112) of any first basemen. He also has 366 HR in his career and barring injury should challenge for the all-time home run crown before his career is over. It truly is remarkable what Pujols has done so far in his career.

The biggest thing that sticks out when looking at this position is power. In my opinion, the first base position is the deepest position in all of baseball and is full of talented hitters. When teams are scouting first basemen, they look for them to be a big source of power and run production and the group of guys on this list meet that criteria. I feel all of the guys on this list deserve to be on it, however, Giambi’s and Helton’s ranking on this list can be debated.

Up Next: Top 9 Second Basemen

Baseball America

The Milwaukee Brewers have seen quite a bit of talent come up through their minor league system. Recently, the Brewers have concentrated on adding impact bats during the draft and this has allowed them to trade for impact pitching. The numbers for their starting pitching haven’t boded well for them as of late. In 2009 they finished with the second-worst starters ERA (5.37) in the majors and a record of 80-82. They do have a strong group of talent that has allowed them to stay competitive in recent years. They have finished over .500 in 3 out of the last 5 seasons with one playoff appearance in 2008 losing 3 games to 1 against the Phillies who went on to win the world series.

With top shelf talent in Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder and Yovani Gallardo the Brewers have a bright future. Now the key is to be able to build some impact players to fill in the gaps around these three players. Manny Parra has shown a lot of potential when he hasn’t be hurt. Unfortunately Ricky Weeks has done nothing to help his case. He has either performed poorly, or when he does show hints of his talent, ends up going on the DL.  The main issue in Milwaukee has been pitching. They have developed a number of talented players (Ben Sheets, Yovani Gallardo, Manny Parra) or traded for impact arms which seem to leave after the season (C.C. Sabathia) and this past draft scouting director Bruce Seid specifically addressed the lack of upcoming arms in their minor leagues system by adding Eric Arnett and Kyle Heckathorn.

Unfortuantely, the majority of the talent in the minors remains on the offensive side of the ball. They are counting on Alcides Escobar to be their everyday shortstop now that they traded J.J. Hardy to the Twins for centerfielder Carlos Gomez. Casey McGehee has a strong grasp on the hot corner after putting up good numbers for them in 2009. Things are looking good for the Brew Crew in 2010 but they must get a solid veteran starter who will stick around for more than a few months.

Baseball America’s Top Ten List of Brewers Prospects

1. Alcides Escobar, ss
2. Brett Lawrie, 2b
3. Mat Gamel, 3b
4. Eric Arnett, rhp
5. Jonathan Lucroy, c
6. Kentrail Davis, of
7. Zach Braddock, lhp
8. Lorenzo Cain, of
9. Jake Odorizzi, rhp
10. Kyle Heckathorn, rhp